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All The Action From the Red Bull Kumite SA Qualifier
How 'MarkTheShark' Moonsamy won the Red Bull Kumite Qualifier held at Comic Con Cape Town on 28 April.
A new South African Street Fighter Champion has been crowned. 31 year old Mark “MarkTheShark” Moonsamy won the Red Bull Kumite Qualifier held at Comic Con Cape Town on 28 April. Since the inception of Red Bull Kumite Qualifiers in South Africa, Jabhi “JabhiM” Mabuza has reigned victorious. His undefeated run came to an end in a shock upset during the semifinals of the competition which saw Sunny Sahota defeat JabiM and claim a spot in the Grand Finals where MarkTheShark would take the W and ultimately earn the spot at the Last Chance Qualifiers of the global Kumite final early next year.
Mark is no stranger to competitive fighting games. He’s been active in the community for around nine years, becoming a serious competitor roughly five years ago. He was an extremely successful Mortal Kombat 11 player with multiple major tournament wins under his belt. Not only was he considered the best South African Mortal Kombat 11 player but he is revered as one of the best in Africa after winning Kolloseum Africa hosted by Mr Aquaman and being the reigning champion of Khan of Africa - a title he held for the last two years of the game’s lifespan.
Red Bull Kumite SA Qualifier
© Tyrone Bradley / Red Bull Content Pool
When he isn’t mashing buttons in global competitions, Mark works as a Software Engineer and lives in Durban. We sat down with the new Kumite Qualifier winner to find out a bit more about his experience winning the title and his view on the South African Street Fighter community.
Being based in Durban must be difficult. It feels like a lot of the major South African LANs don’t tend to visit KwaZulu-Natal?
It really is. The competitive Street Fighter scene in Durban is almost nonexistent. Luckily SF6 netcode is great and allows us to play with more people. I’m hoping I can change the Durban narrative though and show there is talent here!
You decided to move over from Mortal Kombat to Street Fighter - why the change?
Street Fighter 6 came out before Mortal Kombat 1 did, so I’d been playing it for a good few months. It just clicked and felt so much better to me. I also started to see how much support for the game there was, with local qualifying tournaments for international events like Capcom Cup and Red Bull Kumite. It was a no-brainer that I would start competing in the title.
Red Bull Kumite SA Qualifier
© Tyrone Bradley / Red Bull Content Pool
What has been your experience of the South African Street Fighter community now that you’ve started competing?
The one thing that has stood out for me is, even though we are all competing against one another, and there are some rivalries, everyone is very supportive of one another and helps each other improve. We may all compete but I believe we are united in the same goal: to get Africa the recognition it deserves on the global stage. Jabhi has done an amazing job doing just that and I hope I can help do the same.
How confident were you coming into the Red Bull Kumite Qualifier?
I was confident but also nervous at the same time. A lot of people believed I could win this, so the pressure was on. In a single elimination tournament like this, it comes down to the luck of the draw. With a bracket like this no one wants JabhiM first game so, for me, when I saw we were on opposite sides of the bracket I knew I’d be able to get to the finals.
You had to go into the finals against Sunny, knowing he’d just made history by beating JabhiM and knocking him out of the competition. That must have been extremely nerve wrecking?
Sunny played incredibly well against Jabhi, the match was amazing. However, I wasn’t really watching their match but rather I was studying their game and looking for my own approach. This meant when I went into the grand finals against Sunny I already knew how I planned to play.
Walk us through that game plan then?
My main plan was to keep it calm and cool. I didn’t want to get too aggressive and rush the set. One of the players told me after the set that he saw me playing the same way I play online with the control I had and he knew at that point I was feeling myself. This meant a lot to me because I wanted to perform at my best and I think I did.
Of course the match up everyone wants to see now is you versus JabhiM. How do you think the two of you match up?
I have prepared more for Jabhi than anyone else going into this particular tournament because he has always been the one to beat. We met in the grand finals last year for the Capcom Cup Online Qualifiers, where he won. I was hoping the Red Bull Kumite Qualifiers would be my run back. In our scene everyone has improved tremendously. Technically, I think it can go either way between us. We will definitely meet in a future tournament.
How do you think you’ll do on the international stage for the Last Chance Qualifiers for Red Bull Kumite 2025?
I have improved significantly so far and I’m only going to get stronger. The community is always here helping each other improve. With Season 2 coming, I’m also waiting to see what new changes it brings so I can adjust my gameplay accordingly. I have been playing against some guys from the Middle East and Brazil - to get exposure to other regions’ playstyles and improve my own. I think by the time we get to the Last Chance Qualifier I’m going to be on a completely different skill level!
